Professor Joseph Jones (29 June 1908 - 12 February 1999) was an American academic and writer who spent his 40-year career in the Faculty of English at the University of Texas.

Outside of academia, Joe Jones is known for his small role in the film Slacker, but he is widely known for this wonderful book about Waller Creek. This book is rich with Austin and University of Texas history and observations about human and non-human life along Waller Creek. Prof. Jones created a unique and powerful account of his own attachment to Waller Creek.

Waller Creek meanders through the heart of the Eastwoods neighborhood and creates a beautiful green-belt that adds a lot of charm to the neighborhood. Eastwoods Park, created by the City of Austin in 19????, is defined on its east side by the creek as it flows southward through attractively eroded banks of Cretaceous limestone for about six miles to join Lady Bird Lake (Colorado River). The creek is characterized by a rolling terrain and expansive clay soils which support a variety of vegetation, including oak and juniper trees.

Judge Edwin Waller (November 4, 1800 – January 3, 1881), for whom Waller Creek is named, was an entrepreneur, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and designer of Austin's downtown grid plan. On January 13, 1840, he was elected the first mayor of Austin.